Race Week!

It has been a while since I have blogged (AGAIN!). So much has happened since my last note, that it is hard to figure out where to start... I think I will just ramble over the happenings of the last two months and then get to present and think about the race this weekend...

• Made it through the 5 minute interval stage of training... VO2 max intervals... without any major happening. They hurt... a lot... and that was good...
• Completed a few epic rides over the last 5-6 weeks... the Pine Mountain Challenge (130 mile ride to Pine Mountain and back). Got dropped on the way home, but salvaged the day with some hard efforts on the way in. I felt surprisingly good after 130 miles in the saddle and really felt like I could have gone a while longer. We also had our team camp in Dahlonega... no single ride was epic by itself, but three days in the mountains were epic when grouped together. I broke my shifter cable and was stuck with two gears to get through the long day in the mountains. It turned out to be a cadence workout that I would rather not talk about... we did the backside of hogpen... again, I would rather not talk about it. Suffice to say that I considered quiting cycling at the top... a 25 tooth easy gear on that side of hogpen is not a good idea...
• Thanks to these efforts and a steady diet of lunch rides, two-a-days when possible, and long, hard rides on Saturday and Sunday, I have built my CTL over 100 for the first time. It has pulled back a little since I started anaerobic intervals, but I was glad to hit that milestone that I had set for myself last year. Does CTL translate to winning races? Probably not, but watching that number keeps me riding my bike when others are sitting by the fire...
• I have been doing anaerobic intervals for a few weeks. I am on top of my training for the first time since winter started and I feel really great.
• I raced in Greenville, SC weekend before last. I did the Masters 35+ race and the Cat 4 race, back to back. This is a training series, but everyone shows up to test their legs. We were riding the 35+ race with a lot of higher category riders, but I think most of those guys were saving their legs for later in the day. I rode hard in the first race and dropped out half way though the second... legs were absolutely fried, but it was a great day and helped to build my race form.
• Albany is this weekend... I am very interested in placing well in this race, but it is still very difficult to know what my form is this year. Besides the injury from last year, my power meter cannot be trusted when comparing the numbers to last year. Maybe it is better not to know. Either way, I will know this weekend for sure and it will be great to be back.
• I finished out my set of Zipp 404s... they are really sweet and feel very fast on the road. I am trying to decide whether I will race them in crits...
• I have gotten my weight down to 176 lbs (low weigh in for last week) and am steady around 177 lbs throughout. This is 11 lbs down from year before last and 4-5 lbs down from my low last year. Every little bit counts...